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Early hearing interventions lead to better language outcomes
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Language outcomes in children with permanent childhood hearing loss are mitigated through the use of early intervention strategies such as early amplification and cochlear implantation once a diagnosis has been made.
“Although researchers who in previous studies have included sufficient observations have reported some benefits of early intervention for later language skills, their studies have not been powered to determine if the extent of the benefit varies with severity of permanent childhood hearing loss,” Teresa Y. C. Ching, PhD, from the HEARing Cooperative Research Centre and National Acoustic Laboratories, Australia, and colleagues wrote.
To understand how the timing of these interventions affect the 5-year outcome of language in children with permanent childhood hearing loss, the researchers conducted a prospective study in which the age of intervention or hearing screening was analyzed through standard multiple regression. Nonverbal IQ, degree of hearing loss, sex, birth weight, maternal education, additional disabilities and communication modes were considered in this analysis.
According to Ching and colleagues, as hearing loss increased, the benefits of interventions increased. When amplification started at 24 months compared with 3 months, children were more likely to have worse language outcomes, with a larger difference observed for 70-dB hearing loss (–11.8 score points; 95 % CI, –18.7 to –4.8) than for 5-dB hearing loss (–6.8; 95% CI, –10.8 to –2.8). Earlier cochlear implantation also improved language outcomes when the intervention was implemented at 6 months compared to 24 months (–21.4; 95% CI: –33.8 to –9.0).
“Although access to universal newborn hearing screening led to earlier intervention — 72% of the screened group commenced amplification before 6 months, compared with 32% in the unscreened group — and earlier intervention led to better outcomes, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that universal newborn hearing screening is beneficial,” Ching and colleagues wrote. – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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